Comments (8) Lean is not about the funding you take,
The size of your sales force, the money you make.
Lean is not how much money you spend,
That you like your product and so does your friend.
To test your guess and iterate,
To kill your favorite feature your customers hate,
To exercise ideas, removing the sheen,
That is what makes a startup lean.
Because of the overwhelming response and great feedback for the the Customer Development image I recently shared, I decided to share another from our upcoming book. Please let me know what you think.
Figure 2. Ries' Lean Startup: Customer and product development interrelatedness
*CPS = Customer-Problem-Solution
As shown in Figure 2, customer development and product development are two distinct, but interrelated and iterative processes. As Eric Ries describes, the Customer Development team works on testing the problem-customer-solution assumptions, while the Product Development team tackles the solution. The product development process receives input from customers indirectly through customer development, and (in the web world) directly through measurement of product usage. The product development process actively iterates on the product, releasing new or different functionality directly to the customer as quickly as possible.
The customer development process receives input from customers indirectly through product development reports on feature usage, but also directly from customer development processes and analytics. The customer development process iterates on core business assumptions, product functionality, and acquisition and conversion assumptions, resulting in updated hypotheses, honed messaging, positioning, marketing tactics, and feature requirements.
In the Customer Discovery context, a lean startup is not one that necessarily uses lean manufacturing precepts per se, but rather one that uses fast, iterative development practices in conjunction with customer development methodologies in order to:
1) Validate core hypotheses (customer-problem-solution),
2) Produce an MVP,
3) Achieve Product-Market fit,
4) Produce a development and marketing roadmap for scaling.
Creating a proper iteration loop requires you to predefine success and failure for each stage, and a means to measure your progress. For example, in the web-based world, Dave McClure’s AARRR metrics (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) might be applied to measure the stages from concept to product-market fit.
(BTW, if you are interested in being notified when the book is published, sign up here.)
There are many reasons why entrepreneurs don’t, or more accurately won’t adopt lean startup principles. In the last few weeks, I’ve encountered each of the archetypes described below. In each case, the individuals have some awareness of #leanstartup, based on my discussions, as well as sharing Ries’ and Blank’s resources with them. Continue reading '4 Anti-Lean Startup Archetypes'»
I love the work Eric Ries is doing with Lean Startup. (IMO, coupled with an investment model where funds are predicated on implementation of lean startup principles and achieving specific customer development milestones #leanstartup could revolutionize the start-up and investment landscapes.)
Words are powerful and and the intent of catchy phrases can be lost when removed from their original context. I brought this up before a few weeks back, when the “Fail Fast” meme was cruising through Twitter and among some cheerleaders, it seems, failing itself had become the best means to success, as if it were the end objective, as if tripping your way to finish line will ensure you are the winner.
So it goes, IMO, with this quote about the customer’s vision:
Early customers are often more visionary than the startup they work with for that product.
I’m not so sure. Continue reading 'Who owns the vision?'»
It has been awhile since I’ve updated the progress on a very lean startup I’m helping out. Last time out I briefly discuss our first engagement with customers through personal interviews and surveys.
I am pleased to report our first failure. : )
According to our surveys and interviews, our assumptions regarding who will be willing to pay for what appear to be wrong. (I might add, too, that the feedback seems to be running exactly opposite of the expert advice the company heard while going through a local mentoring process.)
So now that we’ve got our answers, we’re ready to go to market, right?
Continue reading 'Lean Start-up Part IV'»
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